COVID-19: Would be wise to open primary schools first before opening secondary schools, says ICMR Chief

Amidst the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Indian Council of Medical Research on Tuesday suggested to reopen primary schools first before secondary schools in India.

Addressing a press conference today, ICMR Director-General Dr Balram Bhargava said, "We know clearly that children can handle viral infections much better than adults. Antibody exposure is also similar in children as adults. Some Scandinavian countries didn't shut their primary schools in any COVID waves."

"Once India starts considering, it will be wise to open primary schools first before opening secondary schools. All the support staff whether it be school bus drivers, teachers and other staff in the school need to be vaccinated", said ICMR chief.

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic last year, schools and colleges across the country have been shut for conducting classes in physical form.

The Indian Council of Medical Research's (ICMR) on Tuesday announced the results of the fourth countrywide serosurvey which revealed that two-thirds of the general population of the country has developed SARS-CoV-2 antibodies and 40 crore people are still vulnerable to novel coronavirus.

The fourth edition of the national serosurvey was conducted in 70 districts in June-July and included children of 6-17 years of age. The fourth serosurvey found the overall seroprevalence of India to be 67.6 per cent.

( With inputs from ANI )